B2B Marketing: A Fresh View on Client Prospecting

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Modern B2B Marketing to fill up your sales funnel | Canada

B2B Marketing: A Fresh View on Client Prospecting

Colourful arrorws showing growth

It is now clear that the B2B Marketing discipline has yet to reach a “New Normal” and probably will not get there soon. Disruption after disruption shuffles the effectiveness of doing B2B lead generation and client prospecting. Let’s review the market directions and how we should acquire new business clients today.

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B2B Marketing Challenges

The marketing field is constantly evolving. What worked yesterday cannot necessarily deliver results today. The key element is to constantly gauge the effectiveness of your marketing strategies and tactics and ADJUST. Let’s take a bird’s eye view and identify first what are the multiple factors that influence marketing for businesses nowadays. Here are the 5 main challenges that are driving a sharp change in B2B Marketing:

  • Influx of information and buying options With over 200 million active websites and over 3.5 billion Google searches per day (Internetlivestats), the purchasing decision is becoming more complex every day and the B2B buyers are overwhelmed by the amount of data they need to process and validate. This makes the buying journey complex, non-linear, and thus, involves more decision-makers in the process (see Gartner’s typical buying journey below).
The B2B customer journey is no longer linear or straightforward

The B2B customer journey is no longer linear or straightforward (Gartner)

  • Decreasing buyer’s attention span – A recent study by the Technical University of Denmark indicates that the abundance of information is narrowing our collective attention. This does not mean that humans lose concentration after 8 seconds, as was previously suggested. Instead, B2B buyers are now highly selective with their time allocation when it comes to content. Due to their limited resources, they will only focus on high-quality, reliable, and riveting content (Note: We hope that you will reach the end of this blog to learn new ways to conduct business client prospecting).

  • Low B2B buyer’s trust in vendors – When making a purchase decision, B2B buyers have lots at stake and thus they crave trust. B2B buyers often look to build a relationship with a vendor that instills strong confidence and their deliverables will yield positive business outcomes (i.e., address the challenges their organization faces effectively). Nevertheless, research results from Forrester and Edelman show a widening gap between how B2B clients perceive vendor providers and how vendors grasp their own reputation. See the diagram below regarding your specific industry sector.

The B2B Trust Cap

The B2B buyer’s trust perception is much lower than how vendors believe their actual trust level.

  • The loss of physical sellingIt is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to give up on the very few in-person marketing interactions that were still viable. Conferences turned into virtual events and sales reps’ meetings are now mostly through chats, video conferencing, or phone (if required). McKinsey & Company demonstrates this change in the below diagram.
Most B2B seller interactions have moved to remote or digital

70-80% of interactions of B2B sellers are digital (remote or self-serve)

  • The rise of the millennial buyers – As you might know, the global workforce today consists mostly of the millennials generation (1981-96) workers. Generation X (1965-80) is still occupying some management positions.
Global population aged 20-65

Generation millennials and generation Z are shaping the B2B buyer characteristics (NGA/LinkedIn – Anita Lettink)

In just another decade, generation Z (1997-onward) is threatening to take over with millennials being mostly in management positions. Thus, it is critical to understand the unique characteristics of these generations.

For these generations, online search is the first step in researching a B2B solution. Digital interaction is the preferred client prospecting method with an emphasis on convenience and availability. Thus, mobile interaction is taking a stronger part, as it is a speedy way to gain knowledge whether through quality content or interaction with social friends/reviews, not with sales representatives.

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The table below explains the shift in the buyer characteristics (by generation):

Area Millenials Generation Z Trend Impact
Values Convenience & flexibility Product quality & availability Client experience is above other vendor features, including product quality
Purchase Impulse buying Browse online and then in-store Easy and immediate access to vendor data
Device for purchase Desktop & mobile Mobile Unique preferences on how and when they want to interact with vendors during the sales process
Shopping Experience Personalized & traditional Customization & crowdsourcing Expectations for personalized sales and marketing outreach
Social Channels Facebook & Instagram Snapchat & Instagram High reliance on the perspectives of family, friends, and acquaintances

Sources: Pew Research & Direct Objective Consulting

Achieve Growth with Practical Tactics

To address the above challenges we would like to show you how incorporating the correct B2B marketing strategies or lead generation tactics will yield the business growth that you are looking to gain. While the above-listed challenges are interconnected and certain strategies and tactics can address multiple objectives, our exercise below will only demonstrate a few examples of adjusting or adding certain B2B marketing strategies/tactics that in turn will derive a strong impact on your business growth.

Too Much Information Out There – How Can I be Found Out?

Gartner’s research finds that when B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers. In fact, this is because 33% of all buyers desire a seller-free sales experience – a preference that climbs to 44% for millennials, which is in line with the above McKinsey & Company findings.

Buying activities for B2B marketing buying groups

How B2B tech buyers split their time during the buying process (Gartner)

When you realize that your website is no longer the center of the world for your potential buyers, it means that your B2B marketing must also invest in external properties so that you will be able to drive back prospective clients to your website. Here are a few ideas to assist you in doing it:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Invest in having your web properties dominate the first page of highly searched key phrases/ keywords. Make sure you are found in the most relevant keywords. Most buyers will not go beyond the second page.
  • Influencers Marketing – Let industry experts, opinion leaders, and technology analysts recognize the value of your solution. Prospective clients are looking to rely on 3rd party opinions.
  • User-generated Content – A strategy that would entice or facilitate client involvement in creating content such as increased social media presence, solution reviews, or media coverage about your client’s success will allow potential customers to receive additional confirmations that are external to your website

Replacement of the Physical Selling

As most clients are leaning first toward a seller-free buying environment, B2B marketing’s role is to identify who is really interested in your solutions, expose them to a content that would engage them and based on their level of engagement decide which client (account) to pursue further. 

The following examples demonstrate this strategy:

  • Highly-Engaging Content Development – Create quality content with great relevant value to your future clients and by that gain authority in your field and client engagement. Content comes in various forms, for example, an interactive webinar about a hot topic, a buying checklist document, or a brief insightful video. The type of content must match the buying stage of the prospect. In the diagram below, you can see B2B content assets that produced the best B2B lead generation results based on a 2021 survey of MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute. Remember, it’s the quality of the content and the matching into the buying stage that matters!
B2B Content assets that yield results
  • In-Market Intent Data – As prospective clients are conducting research first with third-party resources, such as online events, industry newsletters, solution directories, review sites, and many other sources, these third-party collect data (with consent) about buying intents of various organizations. This intent data indicates who is likely to be in-market for your solution. Having the ability to narrow down who’s looking for your solution will enable you to reach higher conversion rates than the traditional advertising approach that broadcasts to all potential clients without knowing if they have the intention to buy or not.
  • ABM/ABX and Marketing Automation Tools – Using sophisticated tools, you will be able to identify the contacts that are part of the buying decision committee and bundle them all under one account – this strategy is called Account-Based Marketing/Experience (ABM/ABX). Analyzing the level of engagement of the combined contacts within the account will provide you signals on whether this account is ready to be handed into the sales team or further nurturing is needed to build trust, knowledge, and engagement. Martech (Marketing Technology) is a set of practical tools that allow you to gain insights regarding prospective client behavior and then support semi-automated decisions on how to advance accounts toward a purchasing decision.

The Traditional Sales Process is Broken – What do I Offer as an Alternative?

While it is important to maintain a sales-free environment at the early stages of the buying process, the sales team has a critical role throughout the middle or bottom of the sales funnel. The new role of the salesperson is to validate the sales opportunity, identify the obstacles that prevent clients from making decisions, and facilitate the buying decision by providing critical content that will tip the decision toward your solution. 

Another strong trend that we see the market evolving into is a high demand for a self-service environment that minimizes the interaction with people. Instead, implement sophisticated chatbots and well-designed websites that walk the prospects through a process where they receive information for every little interaction they do. Each potential client receives a personalized experience that satisfies their specific needs. If this process is well-thought, you can even offer a B2B ecommerce site that shortens the sales cycle and enables you to better customize and support the experience of the millennial and generation Z B2B buyers.

B2B Marketing and lead generation have evolved into a complex integrated process where sophistication, automation, and tactic integration are key to success. Continuous measurement provides you the ability to constantly adjust, improve and surpass previous results, leading your business to high growth. 

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If you would like to see how the new directions in B2B marketing apply to your organization, please do not hesitate to contact us for a consultation session.

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent

B2B Lead Generation vs. Lead Nurturing – Explained

Magnet-for-clients

B2B Lead Generation vs. Lead Nurturing - Explained

Magnet for clients

Acquiring new B2B customers is an exciting but challenging process. As you know, demand creation does not happen overnight. Businesses must pinpoint – and analyze – their target market to develop an effective marketing strategy. Next, they need to engage with prospects and attempt to convert as many as possible into sales. To increase your conversion rate, you must first understand the role of lead generation vs. lead nurturing purpose.

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Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing Defined

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting prospects who show an initial interest in what you have to offer. Meanwhile, lead nurturing consists of building relationships with potential clients. They might not be ready to buy your solution, but they could be in the future. This is sometimes called drip marketing.

Lead nurturing serves to increase a prospect’s knowledge and shape their perception of a specific solution. Simply put, lead nurturing serves to build trust between your company and the prospect. That way, prospects are more likely to choose your solution when it comes time to execute their decision.

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Lead Generation vs. Lead Nurturing

We’ve set up a table outlining the difference between these B2B marketing strategies. First, we have lead generation, which serves to help your sales team find new prospects. This type of generic campaign is designed to help you identify initial interest in your product/service.

Meanwhile, lead nurturing has a different goal: to turn prospects into clients. With this type of marketing tactic, you’re in it for the long haul. You will build a relationship with your prospects throughout the buying cycle and create customized campaigns tailored to their needs.

Criteria

Lead Generation

Lead Nurturing

Goal

To find new prospects

To convert a prospect into a client

Timeline

Until you identify initial interest

Throughout the buying cycle

Campaign Type

Generic

Custom

Message

Direct

Indirect

In short, B2B lead generation and lead nurturing are two sides of the same coin. These aspects of B2B marketing complement each other. When both methods are used in conjunction with the other, they will help you to generate more conversions.

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Do you need help differentiating lead generation vs. lead nurturing campaigns? Would you like to find out about B2B marketing strategies that not only attract prospective clients, but will also convert them into paying clients? Contact us today!

Testimonials

“With their technical background, Direct Objective was able to easily understand complex technology and engineering processes, and translate that to a simple concept that our customers could understand. We feature these concepts on our website now, and we are getting international leads from all over the world.”

Joël Martin, President, Transtech Innovations

Website Auditing: Is Your Website Healthy?

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Website Analysis Self-Test: Is Your Website Healthy?

Website analysis

I meet owners of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on a weekly basis and the very first thing I do is look at their company’s website. Websites are indicative of how much focus your company puts into marketing, both online and offline. Nowadays, your company’s site acts as the window to your brand’s soul, so it is worth performing a regular website audit to make sure you are obtaining optimal site ROI.

Let me suggest a few questions which will allow  you to perform your own quick website audit and determine whether or not your company’s site is “healthy”. Please answer the following questions by saying “yes” or “no”:

    1. Does your company’s website generate enough weekly or monthly enquiries?
    2. Would a person who lands on the site for the first time understand in one minute what you offer and why they should do business with you?
    3. Have you changed your web design in the last two years?
    4. Do you develop new and original content for the site on a regular basis?
    5. Is your company’s site mobile-friendly?
    6. Do you track and measure how your site is doing?

If you answered “no” to at least two of the above questions, you should consider investing more in marketing activities to increase your website ROI and to start bringing in additional prospective clients.

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If you would like to receive our advice, schedule a free consultation call and we’ll be happy to discuss your website analysis.

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent

Marketing Contributes to Increased Technology Adoption

Marketing contribution to technology adoption

Technology Adoption Rates: How Marketing Contributes?

Marketing contribution to technology adoption

Picture the world ten years ago. How different was the technology we used then compared to what we use now? The Internet was just starting to become commonplace and smartphones and social media were barely in existence! It is difficult to imagine living in a world like that today. Yet, if you had imagined the same thing a hundred years ago, a ten-year difference meant hardly any change in lifestyle. It is clear that today’s technology adoption rates are rapidly increasing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. So, how come so many technology companies fail while overall technology adoption rates are accelerating? What is the differentiating factor that makes some successful and others a total failure? The answer is simple: marketing. How can marketing be used to accelerate new product adoption when technology adoption rates are increasing at unprecedented speed?

Technology Adoption Blog Post Diagram small

Fortunately, we have the answer to this question thanks to a concept conceived at the mid-20th century that still applies today. This concept is Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations Theory which seeks to explain the process behind new concepts and technologies and their spread through cultures. The theory states that there are four main elements that influence the new product adoption rate:

    • Innovation: an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual
    • Communication channels: the means by which messages are transferred from one individual to another
    • Time: the time from which the innovation is first known until it is either accepted or rejected by a potential user
    • Social system: a set of interrelated units that are engaged in joint problem solving to accomplish a common goal (an institution, a neighborhood, a nation)

Being aware of these four elements, we can now see how they can relate to technology adoption rates and discuss ways in which we can improve them. Let’s examine each element and how technology companies can use marketing to reduce the amount of time it takes for their product to be accepted and adopted by their clients.

Innovation: What does your product bring to the table that isn’t already there? In order for your innovation to create a buzz, it must present something worth talking about. This is where a good positioning strategy can make all the difference. Your product must be perceived as new and special, whether it is a breakthrough innovation or not.

Communication channels: As a tech company, you must be able to identify the channels that your target market listens to. What blogs do they visit? Are they a member of a certain social media group? Do they go to a particular professional meeting or conference? You must learn how to use these and other channels to effectively highlight your solution if you hope to increase your technology’s adoption rate.

Time: Thanks in large part to the Internet, modern communication channels have allowed for faster communication than ever before. To boost your new product’s adoption rate, your marketing strategy and execution must communicate your product’s value as clearly and concisely as possible or risk being rejected by potential clients who are already accustomed to instantaneous communication. Time is money. If clients don’t understand your product within five seconds, they will move on and not look back.

Social system: Today, a social system encompasses more than just physical examples such as neighborhoods, offices, or schools. Increasingly, there is emphasis placed upon online social systems such as review sites, forums, wikis, video/photo sharing sites, social networks, and other digital communities. These are very powerful tools that can quickly and easily spread messages in a timely manner. You must choose your target market appropriately and decide how to incorporate these online communities into your customer acquisition strategy in a way that still allows for the potential use of more traditional social systems.

The bottom line is that for a successful adoption rate of your new technology, you must invest in marketing that addresses all four of these factors. Technology is changing our world and evolving at an ever-increasing pace. To be a winner, you must find a way to keep ahead of this pace.

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Contact Direct Objective Consulting to discuss your marketing challenges and learn how to take advantage of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory and use its insights to boost your solution’s technology adoption rate.

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent

B2B Lead Generation: Marketing Tactics and Trends

Lead generation tactics

B2B Lead Generation: Marketing Tactics and Trends to Increase Your Client Base

Lead generation tactics

It’s time to take a look at some of the marketing tactics and trends in B2B lead generation. In a recent survey conducted by Chief Marketer, we can find several insights into how marketers are tackling lead generation and the current trends in attracting new clients.

According to the results, 41.5% of respondents were focusing primarily on finding new customers in 2013, with 43.6% focusing on current customers, but still hoping to build awareness among potential customers. It is clear that in the current market, demand creation and lead generation are as hot as the summer season. For companies that are planning on staying stagnant with their customer base, with little efforts on creating new leads, there is great potential for them to lose out to companies that are more aggressive with their marketing tactics.

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With the importance of lead generation highlighted, the focus then shifts to the marketing tactics and how these companies are planning to drive customers to their business. The top trend continues to be email marketing, with 86.7% of respondents planning on using email campaigns in 2013, up from 80.3% in 2012. Whether it be newsletters, promos, or simple correspondences, email marketing continues to dominate the landscape as one of the most effective methods of generating leads.

The use of social networks in marketing has also continued to be a favourite among companies for B2B lead generation. In fact, 67.5% of marketers intend to use social networks in 2013, up 10% from 2012. More broadly, companies are turning to sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube to increase brand awareness and build new client leads.

The biggest  method to have gained traction in 2013 was content marketing, with 60.2% of respondents planning to focus on web copywriting to bring in clients, up 14% from 2012. The importance of strong, search engine friendly content on web pages and blogs is essential in order to get your name out there and generate traffic to your site.

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While each of these marketing tactics can be effective, there is no comparison to when they are combined in an integrated marketing strategy, which creates a cohesive plan that is sure to attract clients. A business that employs consistency across their email campaigns, social media feeds, and website content, using the same style, layout, and content voice among all marketing tactics, will always be more successful than those that lack cohesion.

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Wondering what marketing tactics will make your B2B lead generation more effective? Don’t hesitate to contact us and see how we suggest addressing your marketing challenges.

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent

Website Conversion Optimization

Website client conversion

Website Conversion: Are You Converting Your Web Visitors into Clients?

Website client conversion

Are you looking for a better website conversion? So, you’ve invested a ton of money and resources into a professional-looking website. You brought in top designers, spent hours creating content, hired a professional to customize it for search engines (i hope), and were finally able to launch a new online image for your company. You’ve checked the analytics, and your traffic is stronger than ever.

So what comes next?

As arduous as creating a website can be, it’s only the first step of your digital marketing investment. Measuring traffic is one thing, but are you converting your visitors into sales? Who exactly is visiting your site? Have you considered innovative ways to convert the traffic you are already getting into paying clients?

The first step to website conversion is to determine the goals of your website. Is your site just a product showcase or an online brochure? Or is it a method of receiving information about prospective leads? Next, you have to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of your website to achieve those goals. Be aware, you may need to customize sections of content and design to appeal to particular targets. Finally, you need to have the capacity to analyze and understand the behaviour of your visitors, thereby allowing you to determine  how best to convert casual visitors into loyal customers.

So, how does a casual web visitor become a paying customer? The most important aspect of successful conversion is timing. While your visitors are still on your website, you maintain their full and undivided attention but, once they move on with their search, understand their focus has quickly shifted to the next issue. Therefore, it stands that prospects are far more likely to respond to immediate calls for action than any delayed email communication. A recent research initiative carried out by a CRM management firm tested website optimization strategy.  By monitoring website traffic and responding to certain visitor scenarios with personalized approaches the enterprise saw drastic success, increasing their visitor conversion by 296% in just 6 months.

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There are many methods of website conversion optimization, though not all of them will be suitable for the specific needs of your website. Speak with Direct Objective today to discuss how you can maximize the website conversion rate of visitors to customers.

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent

Attracting Clients in a New Marketing World

Attracting clients

Attracting Clients with Pull Marketing Strategies

Attracting clients

As we discussed in a Direct Objective’s previous blog, Major Shifts of B2B Marketing Evolution”, some traditional marketing sales processes are becoming less effective. The difference is between Pull Marketing and Push Marketing. Many traditional marketing strategies are based on the concept of a controlled sales environment, where actions are driven by a “numbers game”. Simply put: the more outgoing calls => the more message visibility for potential clients =>  the more clients your business gains. In a new world, this equation is not necessarily true anymore.

The easiest way to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to marketing is to shift your fundamental focus by adapting your methods from Push to Pull. Why spend enormous resources chasing down clients with constantly changing needs and ways of absorbing information, when you could simply entice customers to come to you? This will not only reduce the cost of finding new clients, but also ensure you attract an exponentially higher quality of client since they have already acknowledged your company as a potential solution-provider.

Your next step is to identify the right tools to help you effectively make the transition from Push to Pull Marketing. Some recent examples from our clients include:

    • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – One of our clients has been an industry leader for the past 15 years, but potential clients had difficulty finding them on search engines since they were way down on Page 16. They are now located in the top third of the first page, and their Web visitor inquiries, along with their web-generated leads, have seen significant growth
    • Company Blogs & Social Media – In an age where we choose word-of-mouth over slippery salespeople, an open relationship with clients through a blog or social media outlet can build trust. We assisted another client with writing their blog, spreading positive information by social media and word-of-mouth, thereby engaging clients with their solution. a result they saw their registration levels increase dramatically
    • Whitepapers – One company we worked with had an extremely intricate and innovative solution, but it proved challenging for them to communicate this to their target market, especially compared to their competitors. We offered to produce a special whitepaper and distributed it to influential industry figures on their behalf and, as a result, their company is now attracting the right clients who firmly understand  how the solution can benefit them.

Pull strategy is a necessity in this rapidly changing marketing world. There are a number of other new techniques that can simplify the Pull approach process, but it’s most effective to create an overall marketing strategy which is unique in successfully integrating the relevant tactics tailored to the specific needs of your company.

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Talk to Direct Objective today to discuss your options for Pull Marketing strategies and get ahead of the marketing curve.

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent

Fishing for Clients: Process of Lead Generation

Fishing for clients

Fishing for Clients — the Lead Generation Process

Fishing for clients

Summer has officially come to a close, and with it, many fun-in-the-sun activities. If you happen to fish in your spare time, you may think the fishing season is over. But, if you’re looking to market your company, the season never ends! The lead Lead generation process is, in fact, very much like fishing.

Any good fisherman will tell you it takes more than a glitzy lure and a bit of bait to catch a fish. After all, the effectiveness of a strategic marketing plan is just a factor of how much you can encourage prospects to “bite” at your campaigns.

A good fisherman starts by deciding just what he is fishing for— lobster? Salmon? Trout? Depending on the catch, the location will be vastly different! Similarly, the process differs according to the chosen target market. Further to this, we must remember that a fisherman will not want to crowd close to other boats, where fish may be drawn away and his chances diminished. In this way, your strategic marketing plan should delineate how you will compete with other companies by “fishing” in areas with less competition. Then there’s the question of equipment. Will you need lobster traps? A fishing rod? Or maybe a net?

To cast off  an effective lead generation process, you need to take in all of these kinds of considerations, as a fisherman does. You need to define your best target market, resolve on where to find the leads, and figure out how to get them interested in your product or service. You need to make sure that prospects instantly understand the difference between your offering and your competitor’s, entice them to act, and ultimately to buy into your offering.

A positioning strategy defines how to project your offering as visibly and attractively as possible so that your potential client base (i.e., target market) will easily recognize it and will show increased interest in your offering.

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Are you ready to fish for new clients? Do you know which segment would be the most profitable for you? Do you have the right positioning strategy in place? If not, it’s time to equip yourself – contact Direct Objective to start reeling in clients today!

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent

Brand Development Strategy

Corporate image

Brand Development Strategy - Effective Branding Guidelines for B2B Lead Generation

Corporate image

There is a constant debate as to how much companies should invest in brand development strategy and what the ROI of  such an investment would be. I tend to agree that small and medium-sized businesses should not invest in campaigns just for branding, because branding has long-term benefits  and small businesses are usually only looking for short-term benefits. Nevertheless, it is instrumental that your brand would project a coherent look and feel, a firm message, and an image that perfectly corresponds with your offering. Any branding guidelines to consider?

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Effective Branding Guidelines

1) Make your brand memorable- Business-to-business products and services are often very complex. Make sure your branding simplifies and captures the concept so that your target market can easily remember your business.

2) Ensure your branding is consistent- Implement your branding across all your marketing materials, including your website, business cards, promotional materials, etc. Always present your offering in the same way so that, over time, your target client can identify the same message whatever the media.

3) Differentiate yourself from the competition- Through your branding, use your positioning strategy to emphasize what makes you stand out from the competition and why your offering is better than theirs.

4) Offer clear benefits- Business-to-business purchasing decisions are mostly performed based on rational decisions. Be crystal clear as to the benefits of your offering.

5) Build your relationships- It is your responsibility as a vendor to develop a relationship with your client. The closer the relationship you establish, the more loyal your clients will be. Brand development is building a relationship in the mind of your client.

So what outcome is expected from following these branding guidelines? Why should we invest in a brand development strategy?

Business-to-business companies with strong branding will enjoy:

1) A dramatically shorter sales cycle- Branding brings greater trust in a company, with less time needed to close a deal

2) Higher pricing- Clients will be more willing to pay premium prices and be less sensitive to price increases

3) An established industry signature- Your offering will dictate some of the mandatory purchasing criteria

4) Product/service inclusion in the top shortlistYour solution can find itself at the top of a list, sometimes without any sales push activity

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It is true that branding takes time for effects to be seen, but, with very small steps following the branding guidelines, you can soon see the difference. Check with me to learn how to succeed in doing so.

Testimonials

“Ranking our Web site high on search engines results, designing a professional Web site look and developing engaging relevant content for a heavy technology company like us resulted in a dramatic increase in client leads that we receive from our Web site.”

Simon Robin CEO, Hardent